'The Middle Matters' by Lisa-Jo Baker offers reflections on midlife. Baker invites readers to embrace this stage beyond societal expectations, tackling marriage, parenting, and the ordinary moments that make up life.

I loved this book! It rang true in so many ways, and I still remember how impactful it was years later!

I very often judge a non-fiction book by how many notes and dog-eared pages there are, and this one has a TON. Lisa-Jo's books are always a pleasure to read! Between raw truth and humorous insights and experiences, her writing gives you all the feels.

The majority of the chapters were new to me, but there were a few that I was familiar with from having followed Lisa-Jo on social media for the past 7 years.

Overall, I loved this book. It was sitting down with my big sister to listen to her share her stories. The book is setup as a collection of essays, none of which take more than 10 minutes to read (perfect to get through one or two before falling asleep).

If you're a mom deep in the middle of life: Kids, Marriage, Friends, all of it...this is a fantastic book of encouragement, knowing that there is purpose and goodness to be found in the ordinary of life.

Lisa-Jo once again delivers a thoughtful and hilarious take on life, while meeting us, the reader, whereever we may find ourselves. If you struggle with feeling like your work doesn't matter, like the mundane tasks are overlooked and not valued, or just in the weird days of transition from one season to the next, this is a must read! Lisa-Jo reminds us that these days do matter to the world and to Jesus.

Lisa-Jo is a wonderful writer. Full of humor, wit, and heart. I loved her perspective on the messy middle of life and how each ordinary part matters. I would recommend it to others.

I enjoyed this book overall, the author Lisa-Jo Baker is funny, down to earth, and a wonderful storyteller.

I would classify it more of a book of memoirs rather than a devotional, but it was still inspiring.

The stories are real and you feel that, I appreciated that Lisa- Jo is as candid about her failures as she is her successes.
I also love that she stresses the importance of our relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I would definitely recommend it to wives and moms who are looking for encouragement and a good read.

***Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the digital copy of this book. All views and opinions expressed in this review are my own.***

Lisa-Jo Baker had a great message in this book. It is so easy to overlook the middle and look ahead to the finishline. Ironically, the middle is normally where the most headway is made. This was a book I enjoyed thoroughly. Thank you, Netgalley, for the arc.

I think this author is very funny and likable, I didn't read anything from her before but I took this book because I think it is very important to talk about the middle years and all the changes and crisis that it araises. I think I'll keep checking on her to see if she writes something else. I found the book a little bit eclectic or talking about many topics, but then I thought; that is how life is in the middle... You will find yourself laughing and crying...

In The Middle Matters, Lisa-Jo Baker has written an inspiring book explaining why our middle years still matter. In today's world, it sometimes seems that women over 40 just disappear, when in reality, we're taking care of husband, home, and children. We're frequently working outside our homes, and possibly caring for aging parents. In this excess of busyness, we lose sight of the fact that we matter, too.

Lisa-Jo's book gives us permission: Permission to slow down, permission to draw closer to God, encouragement to find our tribe, and permission to take time for ourselves.

I would highly recommend this title to any woman seeking encouragement.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#TheMiddleMatters#NetGalley

I initially put off reading this book. I opened to the first page where Lisa talks about muffin tops and closed it thinking "she's so much older/ahead of me in life, I won't be able to relate." Granted that I was in my mid 30s, so not THAT much further behind than the middle of life she talks about. I picked it up again and even if her stories were very different from mine, they were entertaining. She's funny, vulnerable, and really does get the message through that all of the pieces of your life matter even if they seem mundane or unimportant. It made me optimistic about the middle age years and also made me curious about what my own middle years will look like. This book made me interested in grabbing some of her other books like Never Unfriended. It's clearly broken up into sections about marriage, friendship, parenting, faith so a reader can jump into the sections that fit their own lives or read the entire thing.

Although roughly a decade older than the author I still found her personal stories and points of view relevant to my experience of mid life. This was an easy and entertaining read, the points she writes about lead to thinking more broadly about things that matter to us. Though not religious I didn’t find quotes from the bible distracted from the lessons suggested by the author. A good read on my Kindle for which I’m grateful to Netgalley and publisher; my digital copy was in exchange for my honest review.

“The middle is the place where we might have outgrown the shape of our teenage jeans but ave finally grown into the shape of our souls.” This sums up Lisa-Jo’s book “The Middle Matters” The author talks about how our bodies and lives change as we get older and how we can embrace that change.

Each chapter is an intimate reflection on midlife, Lisa-Jo invites us to get a good look at our. Middles and gives us permission to embrace them—beyond what the media, the mirror, the magazines or our teenagers say. The author knows that the middle might be the best part of the love story of life, faith, doubt and marriage.

I enjoyed reading the chapter and found myself relating to her although I am over 50, I could still relate.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

I felt like Lisa-Jo and I were having a convo over coffee; as she shared her stories, I often laughed aloud and thought about parallels in my own life.

The Middle Matters is a beautifully written essay-style memoir specifically for women in the middle years. This book reminded me to slow down and savor the ordinary moments of this extraordinary God-given life.

This book was more or a memoir than I expected. I expected it to be a self-help book. But I still enjoyed all the stories. And I think they could be enjoyed by people who aren't middle aged as well.

This was my first time reading something by Lisa-Jo Baker but it won't be the last! I loved her beautiful storytelling style and found myself in so many of these stories. Reading these stories is so helpful and inspiring because it helps me see that the things I experience are not unique and that we all have to the same challenges as we get older.

The Middle Matters is a collection of short stories, broken into sections, that is easily readable and applicable to women at any stage. Thank you, Lisa-Jo Baker, for writing such a relevant book!

This book was very refreshing. I wouldn't call this a devotional, but instead more meeting a new friend pointing out truths and wisdom from every day life. I wasn't familiar with Lisa-Jo Baker before, but I resonate with her down to earth approach. The book lives up to its name in that all of its short essays have to do things that happen in the middle of life during the middle of our life.

I think I would give this book 4.5 stars. Overall I did like it. But I think originally when I requested this title from net galley, I thought that it would be more instructional on why the middle part of life matters and less memoir. That being said, Lisa-Jo Baker is a great story teller. The issues that she addressed in this book are one tackled by wives and mothers who are in the middle of it all - marriage, parenting, work-life balance and following Jesus. Even kids sports is one of the featured thoughts.

This book is probably not for someone who is single. Sections could apply to those who are widowed or divorced. Yet the stories are heart warming. Lisa- Jo is equally as honest about her failures as she is about her successes. Through it all, it is apparent that relationships matter - especially our ones with Jesus.

This would be a fun book to share in a friend book club. Since there are several chapters on each book topic, there would be plenty to talk about several weeks. Overall I would recommend it, and all opinions are my own.

I currently find myself in the middle of life: navigating transitions, launching children out of the home and into the world, and figuring out what the next chapter of my life is going to look like. My husband and I were married young and were even younger parents. We've never experienced what it's like to be a childless couple (except for about a year when we were dating) and so we enter a new territory during this middle part of our lives. Lisa-Jo Baker's book was just what I needed to read because, in this time of new and different and what's next, we are still living our every day, ordinary lives. Her book is like the girlfriend you meet for coffee once a week to dish about how you are navigating it all and what's working and what's not and can't we just slow do a minute and process it please and thank you? It was a quick and easy read and I would recommend it for anyone in the middle of a big change, or the middle of their beautiful, ordinary life.

Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion. This is a great book for my season of life, which is the middle since I'm 40 with young kids. I've struggled in much the same areas Lisa Jo struggled. It's not going to answer the really tough questions but wil lead you to the One who will answer the questions, maybe not on this side but maybe on the other side. This book was an encouragement to my walk with Christ.